ARLINGTON, Texas – A defensive battle in the first half turned into a second half scoring fest as the ULM men's basketball program surged to send the game to overtime and gut-out a 76-73 victory over UT Arlington.
The Warhawks (8-6, 2-1 SBC) were cold in the first half and shot just .267 (8-30) from the field and scored 20 points. However, ULM flipped the script in the second with 47 points, shooting .515 (17-33) and made clutch plays in overtime to pull out the thriller despite three players fouling out.
ULM trailed by 13 early in the second half before coming back to tie it, 43-43 at the 13:14 mark. The Warhawks then had to come back again after UTA went on a 9-0 run to go up 54-45, and ULM fought its way to a 61-60 lead with 4:23 remaining. The Warhawks had a chance to win it on their final possession, but junior Mack Foster's three-pointer at the buzzer came just short.
In overtime, senior Marvin Williams came up huge, scoring eight of ULM's nine points to cap his second consecutive monster performance. He made a big lay-up to put ULM up three with 1:14 left, and then finished after finding a loose ball with three seconds left to put the Warhawks up four.
Williams matched both his point and rebounding career-highs with 22 and 13, respectively. Junior Majok Deng also registered a career-high with 15 points. Foster got the nod for his second straight start and posted 11 points.
The Mavs (8-6, 2-2 SBC) were led by Johnny Hill's 19 points, five assists and five rebounds. Kaelon Wilson recorded 16 points and Greg Gainer had 10.
UTA led 10-9 early when it used a 9-0 run to push ahead, 19-9 with 7:29 remaining. UTA was still up in a very defensive first half, 26-17, when freshman Lance Richard hit a three-pointer in the final minute. The Mavs were able to get a lay-up by Erick Neal in the closing seconds to take a 28-20 lead at the break.
The Mavs increased their advantage to 38-26 early in the second half when the Warhawks responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a fast-break lay-up by Foster to cut it to 38-35 with 15:14 left. A three-pointer by Deng tied the game, 43-43 at the 13:14 mark. Still tied 45-45, UTA went on a 9-0 spurt to go back on top, 54-45 with 9:15 to go.
The Warhawks will look to carry the momentum into Saturday when they close out the weekend at Texas State in a 4:30 p.m. contest at Strahan Coliseum.
NOTES
- It marked the third career double-double for Williams and the first this season. He tied his scoring career-high set last game versus Arkansas State. Williams tied his rebounding career-high from last season on the road against Arkansas State on March 6, 2014. It was his 14th career double-figure scoring game and fifth of the season. It was his third career double-digit rebounding game and first of the year. Williams also had a pair of blocks in the game
- Deng broke his previous career-high of 14 points, set three times. He made a trio of three-pointers, a career-high, and also swatted a pair of blocks in the contest. It was Deng's seventh double-figure scoring game of the year
- Foster came two points shy of a career-high, but played a career-high 28 minutes. It was his second double-digit scoring game of the year as he netted 13 points against Champion Baptist on Nov. 17, 2014
- Sophomore Nick Coppola dished out seven assists in 42 minutes. It was the fifth time this year he played at least 40 minutes and the 14th time of his career
- The eight-point halftime deficit was the largest ULM has overcome in a win this season
- The 13 point deficit in the game was the largest ULM has overcome in a win this season
- The Warhawks outrebounded the Mavs, 47-39. They also held an 18-6 edge in second-chance points
- ULM improved to 47-15 all-time against UTA and 17-9 on the road
- The Warhawks scored 47 points in the second half, the most against a Division I opponent this season
- ULM remained as the only team in the Sun Belt Conference that has not allowed 80 points in a single game this season. The most the team let up was 74 points to Northwestern State in a win
- The Warhawks improved to 8-0 on the season when they have at least three double-figure scorers
- Keith Richard improved to 18-9 in overtime games in his head coaching career
Quoting ULM head coach Keith Richard
Opening Statement
“Tremendous effort, we found a way to win through a lot of adversity. We were down double-digits and had foul trouble against a team that was difficult to guard off the dribble. We were struggling to score in the first half but we kept fighting and found a way to win.”
On the first half
“Well the defense was great. Our first half defense has been great all year, no matter who we've played. What I really liked though was how we played offense in the second half. That's all we talked about at halftime, how our heads were down offensively. We then scored 47 points in the second half. There is no magic offense, you're going to have to make some shots. UTA's defense was daring us to shoot. We knew we were going to have to make some shots to loosen them up. Majok Deng and Mack Foster both hit a couple of threes, and then you started to feel Marvin Williams get into it and he goes off for 22 points. We had to make some shots. This is what's happened to us in a lot of our losses, but tonight we found some confidence in the second half from the perimeter and hit shots.”
On Marvin Williams
“He sat for a while, but once he came back in the game in the second half he was fresh and really played well. He got some huge offensive rebounds and obviously scored some big ones as well.”
